One prisoner was killed in the clashes while 15 police and 20 inmates were injured, the government said. A security official confirmed there had been an "incident" at Qafqafa prison. One of the prisoners, Abed Shihadeh al-Tahawi, told Al-Jazeera by cell phone that the prisoners were holding two police officers.

Al-Tahawi is serving three years in jail for plotting strikes against the American and Israeli embassies in Jordan in 2004. Al-Jazeera said Qafqafa prison holds 34 Islamist prisoners. The prison, near Irbid, about 50 miles north of Amman, is one of six in Jordan.

Clashes lasted several hours before police regained "total control" of the prison, a government sources conveyed.

A few weeks ago, captives rioted at three Jordanian prisons, but the 14-hour standoff ended without major bloodshed.